RICS 150

George Everest: Great Trigonometric Survey of India

Everest was relentless in his pursuit of accuracy, making countless adaptations to surveying equipment, methods and mathematics in order to minimize problems specific to the survey.

Surveying, from India to Nepal

Accurate instruments could not always be purchased through standard government contracts, so Everest personally supervised the construction of new instruments. As a result, he and his team successfully measured the meridian arc from Southern India to Nepal; an immense distance of roughly 2,400km.

Sir George is best remembered thanks to the world’s highest mountain which came to bear his name. The mountain was measured by Andrew Scott Waugh, Everest’s successor as the Surveyor General of India in 1852, and the mountain was named after Everest in recognition of his significant surveying expertise.

When scientists revisited the data he had collected 160 years later, with the benefit of GPS and laser technology, they found that he was accurate to within 0.09%. That equates to just a couple of feet. Accurate measurement is, clearly, a valued and crucial contribution made by surveyors.

Arise Sir George

Considering the equipment available to him in the mid-19th Century – consistently used in tough weather – this was an extraordinary achievement, one that makes Everest worthy of celebration as RICS heads into its 150th year.

Sir George was dubbed a knight in 1861 and elected as the vice-president of the Royal Geographical Society the following year. In 1865 the Royal Geographical Society officially adopted Mount Everest as the name for the highest mountain in the world, despite Sir George’s humble objections.